ABSTRACT
In recent years an extensive experim ental, clinical and epidem iological literature provide evidence that nutrition, diet, and unbalanced m etabolism play an im port ant role in cancer developm ent and prevention, and about 35% of all cancers are caused by nutrition factors and diet, and consequently several cancers are avoid able or can be prevented (1). It also has been estim ated by m any epidem iologists that nutrition and diet com ponents are responsible for 40% of cancers in m en and 57% of cancers in w om en, and a significant proportion (40-50% ) of the deaths from cancer could be prevented by nutrition and dietary m odifications. Thus nutrition and diet would have the greatest effect on the incidence of cancers of the stom ach, colon, rectum , and esophagus and, to a lesser extent, on cancers of the breast, prostate, endom etrium , lung, pancreas and kidney (2-5). However, the exact m echanism (s) by w hich nutrition and diet com ponents are affecting the can cer cell growth, division and proliferation as well as the cancer cell m etabolism in general, are still unsolved (6). Recent evidence strongly suggest that nutrition, diet com ponents, and cell m etabolism , and their controlling factors are com plex and m ulti-faceted phenom ena and their molecular, biochem ical and cellular m echa nism s are not yet fully understood (5-6).
